Hybrid Project

[david85]

Russ, is that picture of a 6.9, or 7.3?

 

[towcat]

Russ, is that picture of a 6.9, or 7.3?

the lifter galleys are the same in either. What I am curious about are the pipe plugs midway up the vee. Those aren't stock.

 

[discbrks]

I am still trying to figure exactly how and where to lengthen the body to make it fit the longer wheelbase of the truck. The truck is about 2' longer than the burban, as is the wheelbase. I cant decide if i need to leave the option for people in the back row or not, casue that would decide if the roof stays flat then drops behind the back seat or slants down from the doors. Its getting late and I can think straight anymore so I will leave it to be analyzed by you guys for now

Why don't you shorten the truck frame to fit the 'burb. wheelbase. That seems like it would be a lot easier. Then if the rear is hanging out too far, shorten the rear of the 'burb body. Just a thought.

 

[snoredog]

I know for sure the wheelbase is long enough, if not too long. I got thinking about leaving the body length like it is and doing some major mods to the fenderwells. Most of the bottom 6" on the burban body is bondo i think, so cutting and patching with fiberglass or whatever is doable. So the main factor in lining the body up is the engine compartment. If i relocate the radiator somehwere beside right behind the grill i can slide the body back to the point of the engine being almost in the grill. But i would have to check and see if the shifters would be usable still like that. There would still be frame rails sticking out from both ends though. Must be time for a really big set of bumpers

 

[h2odrx]

the lifter galleys are the same in either. What I am curious about are the pipe plugs midway up the vee. Those aren't stock.

Me too?

 

[icanfixall]

To those that noticied the pipe plugs in the lifter galley... Those are the inspection ports Russ had installed to check the cavation issues with the liners. It sounds like a good idea too....

 

[Agnem]

Except for the fact that there are now 8 more places for water to get into your oil.

 

[seawalkersee]

Well, I guess you could not tell from my unerlying questions, WHY are you not just going to swap the engine/tranny into the burban body/chassis? I will almost garontee the body of the chevy (mounts) will not bolt to the Ford frame. You may have to weld a little to get the 6.9 in the chevy, but it will be a whole lot less than the other way. Also, have ya pulled the cam yet?

SWS

 

[res0wc18]

is Centurion Conversions Company or whatever there name is still around?

Website for them?

 

[GenLightening]

Well, I guess you could not tell from my unerlying questions, WHY are you not just going to swap the engine/tranny into the burban body/chassis? I will almost garontee the body of the chevy (mounts) will not bolt to the Ford frame. You may have to weld a little to get the 6.9 in the chevy, but it will be a whole lot less than the other way. Also, have ya pulled the cam yet? SWS

I was going to ask that but I don't know how the 4x4 parts would fit. The motor and trans are a little snug, but not any more than in the Ford.

 

[snoredog]

yes I had considered swapping the running gear into the suburban when i got the truck a while back, but it would take too much money to make it do what the F250 will do. The suburban is only a half ton model, which is not really a problem if i was only going to use it as a daily driver. But I work in landscaping/lawn care stuff so I pull I have a trailer hitched up through most of the growing season. It originally had a slightly hopped up 350 and TH400, which meant 3 gears, lots of grins, and 9mpg with a tailwind. I sold the engine and transmission for basically what i paid for the suburban. Some of you may have heard about the weak point in the frame rail on the drivers side, right around the steering box. The frame can crack if you push the truck too hard without any kind of bracing around the bolts. Or that is what i heard about the half ton modelsat least. The axles I think are the GM 10 bolts, which are not really good for the combination of big tires and towing i was gonna be doing. So basically I was looking at modifying almost everything on the suburban to make it do what i need it to. It pulled the trailer and mower ok (about 4000 lbs) but the tractor (almost 8000lbs total) got real scary a couple of times. The palcement of the axle so far in front of the hitch coupled with it being a half ton made it too dangerous to pull anything over 45mph, which was not acceptable for me. The F250 was a longer wheelbase and a lot more stable pulling a load than the suburban. But i dont have any midget friends so the back seat of the ext cab doesnt help much. I obviously need something i can safely tow with, and the truck handled a lot better a higher seeds than he burban did. So that is how i arrived at my idea. As far as the body mounts go, they dont have to look pretty so i am sure i can get something to work. As far as the cam goes, I pulled the lifters and they look fine from what i can tell. No rough spots or out of roundness from what i can tell, but that was just running my finger over them. I havent done anything as far as pulling the camshaft out yet. I will try to get some pics of the underside of the head to see the valves and all that, but I really dont know where to look from here. One or two of the lifters looked a little dry compared to the others, but they still had some oil on them. I pushed and pulled on the rockers before i took them off and none of them gave enough like would make a tapping sound. I will try to mess around with it tomorrow and get some more pics up. John

 

[david85]

the lifter galleys are the same in either. What I am curious about are the pipe plugs midway up the vee. Those aren't stock.

I was curious because the precup on the piston top doesn't look like a 6.9, but the cylinder bores seem to be too far apart to be a 7.3. Maybe its been too long since I've seen one apart.

 

[seawalkersee]

Well...you still have the running gear off of the 250 right? You could sell the excess parts and still be ahead on the game by putting the engine, tranny, and rear end in the burb until you can step up to a solid front. You can easily weld a plate onto the inside of the frame and drill the holes for the steerig mount.

Im not trying to discourage you from youre project, I just think you are on a road to some pain.

SWS

 

[subway]

i can see his point with wanting all the upgraded running gear and frame. i think a measurment of the burb frame vs the Ford frame would help settle this. i know with the Fords the 150 frames are allot thinner than the 250-350 frames. its not just the steering box area.

 

[res0wc18]

i would use the ford stuff frame and all that chevy crap is much weaker. Or do like i did and build your own frame